Major League Lacrosse: Harrison is a driving force behind Ohio's playoff run

Saturday

Aug 9, 2014 at 12:01 AMAug 9, 2014 at 8:51 AM

There are several Ohio Machine players who have gaudier statistics than midfielder Kyle Harrison, but it is the veteran Harrison who has been deemed most valuable to the high-scoring Machine's turnaround this season.

Shawn Mitchell, The Columbus Dispatch

There are several Ohio Machine players who have gaudier statistics than midfielder Kyle Harrison, but it is the veteran Harrison who has been deemed most valuable to the high-scoring Machine's turnaround this season.

Harrison, 31, will be named the team's MVP tonight after the regular-season finale against the visiting Florida Launch. His career-high 26 goals and 31 points are only part of the reason for the award and, potentially, the first playoff appearance in the Machine's three-year history.

"Awesome - that's all I can say about the guy," Machine coach Bear Davis said. "He's been a huge piece of the puzzle for us."

Harrison, considered one of lacrosse's all-time greats, returned to Major League Lacrosse after a four-season hiatus and became the calm, driving force of the Machine's rise to respectability.

"He kind of protects the panic button," Davis said. "He stands by it and doesn't let anyone push it. He just looks the guys in the eyes and says. 'We're fine,' and they all buy in.

"He knows each guy has to master their role, and he reminds everybody of that all the time, including himself."

Harrison scored what might have been the Machine's most important goal this season, potting the winner in a 23-22 overtime victory over first-place Denver on July 26, the third win in the Machine's current four-game streak.

A win tonight over the last-place Launch (5-8) - or a Boston loss to Rochester - would clinch a playoff spot for Ohio (7-6), which lost 24 of 28 games during its first two seasons.

"This is the best lacrosse I've ever seen Kyle play," said Machine defenseman Greg Bice, who played with Harrison when both were members of the now-defunct Los Angeles Riptide in the early days of the league.

Harrison is a Baltimore native who lives in Newport Beach, Calif. He played in MLL from 2005 to '09 before leaving to join the LXM Pro Tour. He said he was unsure how his new teammates would accept him when Ohio acquired him after a merger agreement between the tour and MLL during the offseason.

"I'm a little bit of a take-control kind of guy," said Harrison, who won the Tewaaraton Trophy as the NCAA's best player while a senior at Johns Hopkins in 2005. "But that first training camp, Coach Davis asked if anybody wanted to say anything. I sensed the talent we had."

So Harrison and a handful of others stood up and spoke.

"The other guys all kind of said the same, but I said we have the talent we need in this room and it's all about commitment," Harrison said. "It seemed like a lot of guys, from the start, were looking to hear that. It made it easy. Everybody bought in."

Harrison was named a captain of one of the youngest teams in MLL. It was a prudent choice.

"He understands the game so well," said Bice, an 11-year veteran. "He's a leader who brings guys up to his level of play, and it's so much fun to watch."

Harrison played in an MLL championship game with Denver in 2009 but said this season has been his most gratifying.

"You chase big games as a professional, and now we have them every weekend," Harrison said. "This is what it's all about. This has been a lot of fun."